Basketball: George Washington scouting report

Coach Mike Montgomery gave his reserves 63 minutes of playing time Friday in the No. 24 Bears’ 77-56 season-opening win over UC Irvine, and he wasn’t happy with their contributions.

He’ll be looking for more Sunday night when the Bears open the CBE Classic at Haas Pavilion against George Washington.

“Obviously, the best combinations included certain guys and that’s something we have to continue to work on to get players ready to go,” Montgomery said of the Irvine game. “We ran into a little bit of difficulty when we had certain players off the floor.

“We’ve got to develop a little bit of depth.”

Cal’s non-starters provided just 17 points and 14 rebounds, seven of the rebounds by freshman David Kravish.

“I thought Kravish played well,” Montgomery said. “He’s got a great nose for the ball.”

Said senior Harper Kamp of the Bears’ newcomers: “When they come out and play hard they’re going to help us a lot,” he said. “Guys like Dave, you saw the way he can go out and get the ball. Justin (Cobbs), obviously, everyone knows what we can bring. He’s going to add a new dimension to our team.”

Cobbs, who can provide the Bears a physical and aggressive scoring playmaker, shot just 1 for 4, although he did contribute four assists.

Montgomery was encouraged with the first-half efforts of first-time starting forward Richard Solomon, but a bit disappointed that the 6-10 sophomore couldn’t sustain it. “The second half I didn’t think he was as good,” Monty said. “We’ve just got to get Richard’s focus up.”

Solomon totaled with eight points and eight rebounds, but had just two points and two rebounds after halftime.

INJURIES: Montgomery stressed after Friday’s game that Jorge Gutierrez suffered only a leg cramp late in the UC Irvine game and that Kravish was fine after apparently hurting his foot. But reserve center Robert Thurman said he injured his hip flexor in practice Wednesday and couldn’t move well in the game. He played eight scoreless minutes against the Anteaters. His status for today was unclear.

ABOUT THE COLONIALS: GWU figures to be more experienced and more athletic than the UC Irvine team the Bears beat Friday night. The Colonials opened their sesaon Friday with a 64-48 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore . . . The club’s’ top player is senior PG Tony Taylor, who had 20 points in the win over Eastern Shore and has scored 960 career points . . . The team’s first-year coach is Mike Lonergan, who compiled a record of 126-68 in six years at Vermont, including three America East titles and a 2010 NCAA tournament bid.

THE SERIES: First meeting. Cal is 11-13 all-time vs. the 14 current members of the Atlantic-10 Conference.

RECRUITING: Cal prospect Landen Lucas, a 6-foot-9 post player from Westview HS in Portland, Ore., enjoyed his weekend visit to Kansas, according to a report in jayhawkslant.com. He said he hoped to make a decision and call coaches as early as Saturday evening, then sign his letter-of-intent Monday or Tuesday. Stanford, Tennessee and Washington also are finalists for Lucas.

MISCELLANY: Cal has started the past five seasons at least 2-0 . . . The Bears will play a second-round game in the CBE Classic on Tuesday at home against Austin Peay. Results of the GWU game do not impact matchups for the remainder of the event. Likewise, the Austin Peay game has no bearing on Cal’s trek to Kansas City for games Nov. 21 against Georgia and Nov. 22 vs. either Notre Dame or Missouri.